Delivery driver caught dumping grocery order on the side of the road: ‘I’m watching you’

A delivery driver has been spotted dumping a Woolworths order on the side of a dirt road by an angry onlooker.

The video, filmed in Wyndham Vale in Melbourne, shows a small pile of groceries dumped on the side of the road with a delivery driver hunched over the top of the bags.

“Mate, I’m watching you drop that rubbish there, what is it? Shouldn’t it be going to a customer?” the man recording the video said to the driver.

The driver said the order was going to a customer before picking up one of the Woolworths bags.

“There’s not even a house here, what are you doing?” the man responded.

The delivery driver eventually picked up the items and put them back into the car, apologising before getting into the drivers’ seat.

The footage was posted to a local Facebook group, with a woman commenting confirming that the order was hers.

“OMG my day just keeps getting crazier. This is my shopping,” she said, adding that her order was delivered shortly after the video was filmed.

“He sped up so fast then skidded on his way out also reversing into a bush,” she claimed.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, the woman claimed she was “equally amused, confused and angry” at the video.

She said she ordered $100 worth of groceries from the Woolworths website on Sunday afternoon, forking out an additional $15 for express delivery. She said the delivery driver was “flustered” when he eventually arrived at 5.30pm.

“He seemed very flustered and rushed. He opened his boot which was full of empty pizza boxes and take away drink containers everywhere then realised the shopping was in his back seat,” she said.

“Where he was dumping the groceries was directly in front of my house. He had obviously driven past my driveway – about 50 metres and was too lazy to turn back so decided to dump them.

“(That was) until he was confronted by the passer-by then he loaded groceries back into the car and delivered them to me.”

A Woolworths spokesperson said the company is investigating the issue.

“We’re concerned to see this has happened and have taken immediate action to follow up with our delivery partner,” they said in a statement provided to news.com.au

As the cost of living soars, so does the number of delivery drivers flooding the streets. But people looking to earn extra cash by doing deliveries after their day job might be a little disappointed by the pay packet.

Recent research revealed almost half of Australia’s gig economy workers earn less than minimum wage, with the majority of workers using more than one delivery app to make enough money to live.

A landmark report into the gig economy by the McKell Institute – which captured the opinions of more than 1000 rideshare drivers, parcel deliverers and food delivery workers – found more than 90 per cent want the federal government to better regulate the industry.

The report estimates that as many as 112,000 Australian workers could be earning less than minimum wage, including more than half of all food delivery workers – prompting calls for urgent reform.

Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said the report “busted the myth” that transport gig work offered flexibility, saying it was nothing but a tag line.

“Although many food delivery, parcel delivery, and rideshare drivers are drawn to this work on the promise of flexible hours, this is unobtainable without the existence of fair, safe and sustainable standards,” he said.

“These findings reveal that the future of gig work is unsustainable for all involved unless enforceable standards for fair pay, decent conditions and job security are put in place.